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Dr. Julio “Candyman” Diaz pleaded guilty on January 9 to 11 federal drug-trafficking charges, per a plea agreement he signed and filed in late November. Diaz, 65, will be sentenced in U.S. Central District Court on June 2. Under the deal, he faces 200 years in prison and $10 million in fines for 10 counts of distributing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose and one count of distributing controlled substances to a person under 21 years old. “Mr. Diaz pled guilty because he felt it was in his interest,” said Diaz’s lawyer, Michael Guisti, who added that Diaz ​— ​previously under house arrest in Goleta ​— ​was taken into custody at a federally approved facility after he pleaded.

Diaz was arrested in January 2012 on charges of overprescribing narcotics and sedatives to his patients ​— ​11 of whom died of overdoses between 2006 and 2011 ​— ​following an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Santa Barbara Police Department, and the California Medical Board (which revoked Diaz’s license in November 2012). Authorities have alleged that many of the drugs Diaz prescribed ​— ​out of his Family Care Clinic at 510 North Milpas ​— ​were sold on the street, often leading to overdoses. Diaz originally pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him; the remaining counts will be dismissed at sentencing, prosecutor Ann Luotto Wolf said.

The 11 charges stem from Diaz’s treatment of three patients. In his agreement, Diaz admitted to doling out a combined 1,600 opiates and sedatives to two patients in late 2010, and 180 to a 20-year-old patient in 2009, and to doing so “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” according to a statement from the U.S. District Central Court. Wolf declined to elaborate on whether the three patients were among the 11 who died. Diaz wasn’t specifically charged with and didn’t specifically admit to causing any deaths, the statement said. Wolf said criminal charges could possibly be brought against Diaz for the 11 fatal overdoses but that those charges wouldn’t be in the federal indictment. District Attorney Joyce Dudley said that no reports were sent to her office and that there is no investigation underway.

Comments

How did the court prove that? I don't believe you can prove medically whether someone has "pain" or not. All you can do is go back through their medical records and see recorded instances of complaints. Lack of documented complaints to a medical professional does not mean pain does not exist. It seems like there was "reasonable doubt" here, I think he should have had a jury trial. I would have acquitted him.

Loon: "How did the court prove that? I don't believe you can prove medically whether someone has "pain" or not.

Key words here: "I don't believe." In your limited world, no, you can't. In the medical profession there are pain scales plus patient history charts to indicate the following: Type of pain, cause of pain (incident), history of treatment, range affected area, involved tissue, physical shape of patient, patient behaviors and habits and a whole slew of other metrics that can be used to effectively treat a patient suffering from pain.Another key word here loony: METRICS. These are quantifiable, objective, REAL data points that can be used to effectively treat a patient.I'm sure you're going to find an opinion's link that says otherwise, but we all know that the only "reasonable doubt" here lies in your ability to handle the real world.

Deny them? Sheesh you're TOTALLY out of touch with reality and it shows. Terrified? Dude, YOU are in need of meds.Tell you what, go over to the UCSB Student Health Center, tell them you feel anxious or can't sleep. BAM! Xanax on demand! Can't study or have trouble focusing? BAM! Adderall on tap! Better living through modern chemistry!They dispense it like candy there and guess what? Overdoses due to these meds are a commonality in the Isla Vista community EVERY Friday and Saturday night.Doctords terrified... HAW! Please give US all a break from your paranoid delusions. My humble assumption is that you DO partake in the consumption of "illicit" substances and if that's the case, then the naysayers of said substances are correct, they induce paranoia. Watch out loony, they're out to get you! LOOK OUT!

Can't help but wonder how many pharmacies/pharmacists were involved in dispensing these "prescribed" medications? Not too much of a concern if many different pharmacies/pharmacists were used by Diaz' patients. But, if only a few were repeatedly used, shouldn't the volume of drugs being prescribed have drawn some suspicion?

Once again, yet again, still again, the loony one proves, without question, the invalidity of his posts by ignoring the fact that while xanax and adderall are not opiates THEY STILL AFFECT HUMAN BEHAVIOR!Nice try drugdoof, don't you have pictures of a dead hit and run victim to go post on here? Move along little doggie, move along.

Ken, you just said it ( many times drugs are being used in place of letting kids.. be kids! They're not dolls made to sit docile on a shelf.): Regardless of classification (opiate, stimulant, anti-anxiety), they still alter/affect/impair human behavior.